* 古代指被役使的人："～三百人"。～奴。 * 文言疑问代词，相当于"胡"、"何" ～（为什么）不去也？子将～（什么）先？水～（何处）自至？ * 姓
where? what? how? why?; servant
Oracle Bone Script
c. 1300–1050 BCE (Late Shang)
Inscriptions carved on turtle plastrons and animal bones for divination and record-keeping in the late Shang royal court; the oldest large attested corpus of written Chinese.Wikipedia ->
Bronze Inscriptions
c. 1200–221 BCE (Shang–Zhou; continues into the Warring States)
Inscriptions cast or engraved on ritual bronzes, especially prominent from the Western Zhou onward; a major source for early political, ritual, and social history.Wikipedia ->
Small Seal Script
Standardized 221–206 BCE (Qin); developed earlier in Qin
The standardized seal script promulgated after Qin’s unification, based on earlier Qin seal forms and used as an empire-wide norm.Wikipedia ->
Clerical Script
c. 300 BCE–220 CE (emerged late Warring States/Qin; dominant Han)
A practical script that evolved from late Warring States/Qin writing; it matured and became dominant in the Han dynasty, favoring faster, more rectilinear strokes.Wikipedia ->
Transmitted Pre-Qin Forms
Pre-Qin forms (≤221 BCE) / late 2nd century BCE onward (Han → later textual transmission)
Pre-Qin character forms preserved through later textual transmission (often discussed as the 'Old Text' / guwen tradition). Shaped by repeated copying, they can diverge from excavated Warring States materials.Wikipedia ->